June Walker

{{Short description|American actress}} {{More citations needed |date=November 2020}} {{Infobox person |image=June Walker - Feb 1920 Shadowland.jpg |image_size = 200px |caption = Painting of Walker in 1920 |birth_date={{Birth date|1900|06|14}}<br>New York City, U.S. |death_date={{Death date and age|1966|02|03|1900|06|14}}<br>Los Angeles, California, U.S. |occupation=Stage, film, television actress |spouse=Geoffrey Kerr |children=John Kerr}} {{about||the American activist and former Hadassah leader|June Walker (Hadassah)}}

'''June Walker''' (June 14, 1900 – February 3, 1966) was an American stage and film actress.

==Early years== Walker was born in New York City on June 14, 1900, and was orphaned when she was 14. She worked as a millinery clerk before becoming an actress.<ref name=obit/>

==Stage career== [[File:Green-Grow-the-Lilacs-1931.jpg|thumb|Walker (left) with fellow performers Helen Westley and Franchot Tone in the 1931 Broadway production ''Green Grow the Lilacs'']] Walker performed as a member of the chorus of a Globe Theater production of ''Hitchy-Koo'' when she was 16 years old.<ref name="obit" />

She appeared on Broadway in such plays as ''Green Grow the Lilacs'', ''The Farmer Takes a Wife'', and ''Twelfth Night''.<ref>{{cite web |title=June Walker |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/june-walker-63802 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |accessdate=November 6, 2020 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20201106012822/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/june-walker-63802 |archivedate=November 6, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref> She was the first actress to portray the character of Lorelei Lee, in the 1926 Broadway production of ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes''. Her obituary in ''The New York Times'' said the role "was as much her creation as that of Anita Loos who wrote the book that became the comedy ..."<ref name="obit" /> The success of the play launched Walker's career, and she had further Broadway successes. She played Linda Loman to Thomas Mitchell's Willy in the 1949 touring company of ''Death of a Salesman'' and also toured, performing in the role of Vinnie, in ''Life with Father''.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

For four weeks in 1924 Walker appeared as the Leading Lady in the Summer Stock cast at Elitch Theatre. She appeared in: The Changelings, by Lee Wilson Dood; Rolling Home, by John Hunter Booth; The New Poor, by Cosmo Hamilton; and Across the Street, by Richard A. Purdy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1924 – Historic Elitch Theatre |url=https://hetden.org/year1924/ |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=hetden.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |last=Levy |first=Edwin Lewis |date=1960 |title=Elitch's Gardens, Denver, Colorado: A History of the Oldest Summer Theatre in the United States (1890 - 1941) |publisher=Columbia University}}</ref>

==Film career== Walker acted in silent films for Essanay Studios and in sound films, including ''A Child Is Waiting'', ''Through Different Eyes'', ''The Unforgiven'', and ''War Nurse''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=John |title=Screen World 1967 |date=June 1983 |publisher=Biblo & Tannen Publishers |isbn=978-0-8196-0308-1 |page=240 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjZKjHXEj-YC&q=%22June+Walker%22+actress&pg=PA240 |accessdate=November 6, 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

==Personal life== In 1926, she married British actor Geoffrey Kerr. The couple divorced in 1943; their son was actor John Kerr.<ref name="ink">{{cite magazine|date=5 April 2026|access-date=5 April 2026|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/not-quite-movie-stars-john-kerr/|magazine=Filmink|title=Not Quite Movie Stars: John Kerr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=McFarlane|first1=Brian|title=The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition|date=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9781526111968|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V7vPDQAAQBAJ&q=%22June+Walker%22+actress&pg=PA1989-IA19|accessdate=7 March 2017|language=en}}</ref> She appeared with her son in a 1954 episode of NBC's ''Justice''. It was his first acting engagement.{{Citation needed |date=November 2020}}

==Death== On February 3, 1966, aged 65, Walker died of undisclosed causes at her son's home in Los Angeles.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |title=June Walker, 65, first Lorelei Lee |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/117232727 |accessdate=November 5, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=February 5, 1966 |page=29|id={{ProQuest|117232727}} }}</ref> She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.{{Citation needed |date=November 2020}}

==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1921|| ''Coincidence'' || Phoebe Howard || '''Lost''' film |- |1930|| ''War Nurse'' || Babs || |- |1942|| ''Thru Different Eyes'' || Margie || |- |1960|| ''The Unforgiven'' || Hagar Rawlins || |- |1961|| ''The Tom Ewell Show'' || Madge || Season 1 Episode 20: "Storm Over Shangri-La" |- |1961|| ''Whispering Smith'' || Ma Gates || Season 1 Episode 2: "The Grudge" |- |1961|| ''My Three Sons'' || Annie || Season 2 Episode 10: "Mike in Charge" |- |1961|| ''Thriller'' || Dierdre Pennaroyd || Season 2 Episode 9: "A Third for Pinochle" |- |1961|| ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' || Mrs. Millie Wright || Season 7 Episode 12: "A Jury of Her Peers" |- |1963|| ''A Child Is Waiting'' || Mrs. McDonald || Uncredited |- |1963|| ''The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'' || Mrs. Wales || Season 1 Episode 20: "The Paragon" |- |1964|| ''The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'' || Aunt Mary Jane || Season 3 Episode 1: "The Return of Verge Likens" |}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} {{Commons category|June Walker}} *{{IMDb name|0907913}} *{{IBDB name}} *{{Find a Grave|10917952}} *[https://historicelitchtheatre.org/june-walker/ June Walker] at Historic Elitch Theatre

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, June}} Category:1900 births Category:1966 deaths Category:American stage actresses Category:American film actresses Category:American television actresses Category:Actresses from Chicago Category:Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Category:20th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American singers